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Hyde Park Hyde Park is the most
prominent and famous London park. It was once part of a monastery where
deer, wild bulls and boar roamed freely. Henry VIII gained ownership in
the 16th century and used it for hunting. It was opened to the public in
the early 17th century and became an immensely fashionable place. Being 360 acres in size it
can take some time to cross the park. Within the park, there are options
to vist The Serpentine Lake, a man-made lake where you can hire a boat
for rowing, Kensington Gardens, especially the Princess Diana Memorial
Walk, a Statue of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, Rotten Row where
people ride their horses, a Pet Cemetery at Victoria Gate on Bayswater,
The Queen Elizabeth Gates on the south-eastern end adjoining Park
Lane, Speakers Corner and Marble Arch on the North Eastern corner, and
the Albert Memorial across from Royal Albert Hall |
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Skaters |
Achilles Monument |
Walkways |
Italian Fountain |
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Walkways |
Ducks |
Princess Diana Memorial |
Closeup |
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Green Park |
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Green Park was originally a swampy burial ground for lepers and later a hunting ground for King Henry VIII. As with St. James Park, it was converted by Charles II in the seventeenth century into a public park. Afterwards, the park was used for many fireworks displays and for early hot-air balloon flights. Handel’s famous work ‘Music for Royal Fireworks’ was written specifically for one of these spectacular displays. Green Park was originally named because of the total absence of flowers in its boundaries. Today it's the smallest of London's Royal Parks, but it's known for it's central path among informal groups of trees, leading to Buckingham Palace.
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Walkway |
Canadian Monument |
Closeup |
Royal Gate |
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St. James Park |
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St James's Park is probably the most beautiful and intimate of the capital's central parks. Originally a marsh, the land was drained by Henry VIII in the 15th century to provide a deer park for St James's Palace. In the 17th century, Charles II commissioned a French landscape gardener, André Le Nôtre, to convert the deer park into a garden. Further landscaping by John Nash took place in the early-19th century. It's a popular place to stroll, feed the ducks or watch the pelicans.
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